Page 122 of Slumming It

This made no sense.If it wasn't important, why would he return?"So…were you looking to meet up with old friends or something?"

His expression darkened. "Ihadno friends."

"Why not?"

He frowned. "You'd have to askthem."

His frown mademefrown. "Them, who?"

Reese looked at me for another long moment, and for tiny fraction of that moment, I saw a quick hint of pain as if he were suffering from a lingering wound that hadn't quite healed.

But when he finally replied, it was with a small smile that looked surprisingly genuine. "It's not important. Not today."

"Why not?"

His voice grew very quiet. "Because they're gone."

My heart filled with sympathy.Gone as in dead?The way it sounded, he had some serious baggage, and here I was, poking at the wounds even though I'd known him for less than a week. Suddenly, I felt just a little ashamed. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't be." He smiled. "Like I said, it's not important."

I definitely didn't believethat, but I did know that it was time to change the subject if only to banish the ghosts from his past. After what he'd done for Vivian, it was the very least I could do in return.

I summoned up a smile. "So, are you gonna tell me why you hired me? I mean, I told you why Iwantedto be hired, so come on. What was it?" I gave him a wink of my own. "My impressive sales pitch?"

"I'll tell you," he laughed. "But you're not gonna like it."

"You don't know that for sure."

"The hell I don't. You can't guess what I wanted?"

I shook my head. "No, what?"

He reached for his wine glass and took a long, leisurely sip before saying, "I can describe it in one word."

I leaned forward. "Yeah?"

"Payback."

I was utterly confused until it hit me like a ton of bricks. "Oh, my God. You don't mean as revenge for finding me in your room?"

He shrugged. "Payback is payback."

I sat back in my seat. Suddenly, so many things were making sense. "Sothat'swhy you had me wear those stupid clothes? So I would look ridiculous?"

"Yeah, well…" He looked almost sheepish now. "You didn’t look as ridiculous as I planned."

"Oh, stop it," I laughed. "I looked like a lusty bumpkin."

"I wouldn't have put itthatway," he said, giving me a long, sexy look. "But hey, I'm not gonna argue."

I rolled my eyes. "And you didallof this just because you thought I broke into your room?" Before he could even think to answer, I said, "What, you didn't have anything better to do?"

"More productive? Yes." He cocked a single eyebrow. "More fun? No."

"Fun foryou," I laughed.

He gave me a wicked smile. "You know what this means?"